State Recognition of Intercountry Adoptions Finalized Abroad - Northern Mariana Islands

Effect and Recognition of a Foreign Adoption Decree

Citation: Comm. Code Tit. 8, § 1415

A court decree establishing the relationship of parent and child by adoption pursuant to due process of law by a court of any other jurisdiction within or without the United States shall be recognized in the Commonwealth, and the rights and obligations of the parties as to matters in the Commonwealth shall be determined as though a court of the Commonwealth had issued the decree.

Readoption After an Intercountry Adoption

This issue is not addressed in the statutes reviewed.

Application for a U.S. Birth Certificate

Citation: Comm. Code Tit. 8, § 1417(a), (c)

After the adoption decree has become effective, a certified copy of the adoption decree or a certified abstract thereof on a form approved by the clerk of the Superior Court shall be sent to the Commonwealth Recorder's office. The Commonwealth Recorder's office shall make a new record of the birth in the name of the individual, as fixed or changed by the decree, with the names of the adoptive parents.

If the birth of the individual occurred outside the Commonwealth and a record of birth exists, the certified copy of the decree or the abstract thereof shall be transmitted by the clerk of the Superior Court to the birth registration authorities of the place of the individual's birth with a request that those authorities take appropriate action with respect to the record of the individual's birth.